Spanish giants Barcelona were handed the toughest possible draw Monday when they were paired with Manchester City in the plum tie of the last 16 of the Champions League.

Champions Bayern Munich were also given a hard draw as they plucked Arsenal for the second year in a row at this stage.

Failing to gel a slew of expensive signings cost Andrew Villas-Boas his job as Tottenham manager.

Villas-Boas' 17-month spell at White Hart Lane came to an end Monday, a day after Tottenham slumped to a 5-0 home loss to Liverpool and left the team seventh in the Premier League.

Japan coach Alberto Zaccheroni says playing against tough opposition has given his team greater confidence as it prepares for a fifth straight World Cup appearance.

Since taking over after the 2010 World Cup, Zaccheroni says one of his main goals was to take Japan out of its comfort zone by playing against some of the world's stronger teams. Over the years, Japan has had a reputation for dominating in Asia but struggling against teams from Europe and South America.

Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning is Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year.

Manning has led Denver to 11 wins from 14 games record this year, his second with the Broncos after missing the 2011 season with Indianapolis because of neck troubles that affected his right triceps.

Rudy Gay scored 26 points in his first home game since coming over in a trade from Toronto to lead the Sacramento Kings past the Houston Rockets 106-91 Sunday.

Gay added five rebounds and four assists. He finished 10-for-20 shooting in a dazzling home debut for the Kings, who had lost eight of their past 10 games.

Carlos Tevez scored his first hat trick for Juventus to help the Serie A leader crush Sassuolo 4-0 on Sunday and reinforce its bid for a third successive league title.

Federico Peluso scored the other goal as Juventus bounced back from its midweek Champions League exit in emphatic fashion, with its eighth successive league win and clean sheet.

Manchester United received another setback on Friday when manager David Moyes revealed that striker Robin van Persie will be out for a month with a thigh injury.

The Dutchman recently returned from a four-game lay-off due to a groin problem, playing in last weekend's 1-0 loss to Newcastle United and the midweek victory over Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League.

Australia skipper Michael Clarke collected the International Cricket Council's best player award for 2013 on Friday, the day he started his 100th test.

Clarke was the leading run scorer in tests in the qualifying period in the 12 months to August 25, scoring 1,559 runs at an average of 70.86 including five centuries.

Portland's LaMarcus Aldridge put in a superb individual performance, scoring 31 points and having a career-high 25 rebounds, to power the Western Conference-leading Trail Blazers to a 111-104 win over Houston on Thursday,

In the day's other game, Brooklyn beat the Los Angeles Clippers to give Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett a victory over their old Boston coach Doc Rivers.

PSV Eindhoven's dismal season reached a new low on Thursday by losing 1-0 at home to Chornomorets Odesa in the Europa League to become the biggest name to crash out of the competition.

Dynamo Kiev avoided the same fate thanks to a 3-1 win over Rapid Vienna, ensuring the Ukrainian giants joined Swansea, Slovan Liberec, Chornomorets, NK Maribor and Maccabi Tel Aviv in reaching the knockout stage on the final night of group play.